Institutional Considerations

Institutional considerations are important too. The general challenges of administering any sort of interdisciplinary program are addressed in Interdisciplinary Administration. The simple fact is that modern universities were generally developed with disciplinary structures, and interdisciplinary efforts of all sorts must struggle to attain appropriate institutional support. We note here a few of the key institutional requirements for successful interdisciplinary research teams:

· Resources must be shared well and fairly

· Investigators must be rewarded (tenure decisions often work against investment of time in collaboration) “Promotion and attainment of tenure is generally related to research productivity, as measured by number of research publications, especially those with a single author. By their very nature, interdisciplinary publications, have multiple authors, often take longer to develop, and are less likely to lead to promotion. In addition, it is often more difficult to publish truly interdisciplinary research in the finest journals since most journals are discipline‐specific. To mitigate this effect, traditional academic views must change, and interdisciplinary research must develop a truly interdisciplinary audience.” [Kessel et al book (citation below)]

· Non-hierarchical decision-making is necessary

· Proximity and comfortable meeting areas are critical in stimulating regular interactions,

· Increased interactions between universities, governments, etc. could stimulate research

· Though granting agencies are increasingly interested in interdisciplinarity, most funding programs still have short timelines and are aimed at individuals or small groups

· “The general organization of academic institutions into discipline‐specific departments inhibits the natural development of interdisciplinary research. A number of universities have developed interdisciplinary research centers and institutes in an attempt to foster interdisciplinary research, but in many cases, the funding of these has been less secure than that of traditional individual departments.” Kessel et al.

Several of these points are made in:

Kessel, F.S., Rosenfield, P. L., & Anderson, N. B. (Eds.). Interdisciplinary research: Case studies from health and social science (2nd ed.) New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Kirst, Maritt, Nicole Schaefer-McDaniel, Stephen Hwang, and Patricia O'Campo, eds. Converging Disciplines: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Urban Health Problems. Springer, 2011.